owing to a variety of reasons, but chiefly from my being wedded, as it were, to the State, to which we all owe quite as much, or even greater duty, than the most faithful wife owes to her husband, I would not have you suppose that I have not a high veneration for matrimony.  So far from this, I have looked on no part of this day’s ceremonies with more satisfaction than these of the nuptials, which we are now called upon to complete in a manner suitable to the importance of the occasion.  Let the bridegroom and the bride stand forth, that all may the better see the happy pair.”

At the bidding of the bailiff, Jacques Colis led Christine upon the little stage prepared for their reception, where both were more completely in view of the spectators than they had yet been.  The movement, and the agitation consequent on so public an exposure, deepened the bloom on the soft cheeks of the bride, and another and a still less equivocal murmur of applause arose in the multitude.  The spectacle of youth, innocence, and feminine loveliness, strongly stirred the sympathies of even the most churlish and rude; and most present began to feel for her fears, and to participate in her hopes.

“This is excellent!” continued the well-pleased Peterchen, who was never half so happy as when he was officially providing for the happiness of others; “it promises a happy menage.  A loyal, frugal, industrious, and active groom, with a fair and willing bride, can drive discontent up any man’s chimney.  That which is to be done next, being legal and binding, must be done with proper gravity and respect.  Let the notary advance—­not him who hath so aptly played this character, but the commendable and upright officer who is rightly charged with these respectable functions—­and we will listen to the contract.  I recommend a decent silence, my friends, for the true laws and real matrimony are at the bottom—­a grave affair at the best, and one never to be treated with levity; since a few words pronounced now in haste may be repented of for a whole life hereafter.”

Every thing was conducted according to the wishes of the bailiff, and with great decency of form.  A true and authorized notary read aloud the marriage-contract, the instrument which contained the civic relations and rights of the parties, and which only waited for the signatures to be complete.  This document required, of course, that the real names of the contracting parties, their ages, births, parentage, and all those facts which are necessary to establish their identity, and to secure the rights of succession, should be clearly set forth in a way to render the instrument valid at the most remote period, should there ever arrive a necessity to recur to it in the way of testimony.  The most eager attention pervaded the crowd as they listened to these little particulars, and Adelheid trembled in this delicate part of the proceedings, as the suppressed but still audible breathing of Sigismund